Cloud's Promised Land
by Out of Books
Summary: Sephiroth has been defeated, but Holy still will not move. Cloud finds himself musing over his fate and the fate of his world. Homage to pre-Compilation fan-theories, and a retelling of what could've happened. Original game canon only.


_Beta'd courteously by: KavanBurningWings_

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><p>His muscles were twitching from the battle. They would be stiff and sore within the hour. Thankfully, the combination of adrenaline with fearful anxiety merely made them tingle with a numbing chill. He didn't have to look over to the rest of his companions to know that they were in the same physical state as he was. Glowing blue eyes just stared transfixed with the emeraldine liquid energy frothing and mixing with small amounts of magma only a dozen meters away.<p>

It was over now. It had to be, and yet… nothing. Nothing moved. Sephiroth was dead yet the Planet would still not respond to its imminent danger as he had hoped. His mind tried to rationalize it. Perhaps Holy did not move as other spells did; Materia use may have misled his expectations as to the magick within the lifestream's capacity. That rationale didn't ease him, however. It only made the flexing tension in his heart pull all the tauter.

'Please,' his thoughts begged, 'don't let all this loss be for nothing.'

Loss. There was that to be certain on this journey, but no, loss was the wrong word. So much had happened that to only focus on what was lost would have been an injustice. Everyone standing with him had started this journey due to loss: homes, families, loves, friends, histories, dreams, and pride. Not a single living soul standing with him now stood unmarred by the loss of one of these things. Still, they were able to stand. They had fought, and they had all grown, even if just a little.

Growth. There was the word. That which was lost could never be reclaimed nor replaced, but something new had been gained. Drive, certainty, companionship, wisdom, and purpose were seeds planted by their footfalls and their growth had fought away the despair that came due to hardship. His mind reflected on the cycle of the lifestream; to die fulfilled was to join with the blood of the planet, to flow with and disperse within the world, and build new life.

If it had been anyone else considering such an afterlife, the thought would have been horrifying. To lose one's memories was, for many, an unthinkable fate, but his ordeal had taught him that while memories were to be cherished, they were not what created your identity. Memories merely helped give context to that intangible idea of the self. He still had his own mannerisms, his own phobias, and his own passions. Thus, while death was still sad, it had long stopped being something he feared. He imagined joining the lifestream was much like that; just on a much grander scale.

That was comforting. He had done all that he could to hang on to this life he was ready to grow with, but death was an aspect that could only be slightly manipulated and never removed. What happened to the Planet now wasn't his decision to make. Cloud had done all he could.

"This was all we could do," his statement was cold and blatant, but no fear was present to waver it. He felt the fear his statement stirred flow from his companions like an icy breeze.

Barret straightened his posture from the stony wall he leaned against. Fisting his hands demandingly, he bellowed, "Wait! What about Holy? What's gonna happen to the Planet?"

Cloud turned quickly, knowing that Barret was merely being the voice given to the fear of all his present company. He had to answer to everyone, even if he doubted they'd appreciate his answer. "That... I don't know. Isn't the rest up to the Planet?" Seeing the fear and exhaustion in their faces had forced the truth in his heart to pause, and the coldness of his words melted to lament.

As usual, it was Tifa that saved him. The irony of his promise and their reality had not been lost on Cloud. She took a single step to occupy most of his view and gave her standard encouraging smile. "You're right," her voice had all the warmth and triumph his should have had from the beginning. "We've done all that we could do."

Cloud looked into that smiling face. He had meant to thank her for that smile. She was one of only two that had borne the burden to always smile at him like that whenever they could, and he had only ever thanked the other person for it. When they were safe, he would thank Tifa too.

He turned his gaze to the rest of the group. "All right, everyone. It's no use thinking about it. We'll leave all our worries here." He suppressed his own uncertainty as if it were a ball to be crushed triumphantly in his fist. "Let's go home proud."

It was the word of home that sent energy into the weary bodies. Barret took in a breath of victorious esteem and walked with that gait Cloud only ever saw him use when he was thinking of Marlene. Vincent dropped his folded arms and glided with that ethereal grace that would have fooled the less perceptive into believing he was unaffected; though Cloud took notice that his steps were slower than usual. Cait Sith remained slumped over his moogle as the big, stuffed, mechanical beast lumbered sluggishly away. How a machine could experience exhaustion was still a bit of a mystery. Cid had to use his spear to pull himself to his feet. As he walked, his practiced hand unsheathed himself a fresh cigarette from his pack, yet he still patted his individual pockets despite his lighter was always in the right breast of his jacket. Yuffie dragged the tops of her toes with each step mumbling in over-exaggerated drama of the cruelty at being forced to move for the moment. Red XIII's movements were still the most difficult to read. He was obviously weary, but being much more subtle by nature than his compatriots, on top of his foreign body language, offered little in clues to the state of his mind. The red beast did pause to glance off the ledge of the crater pit but only for a fraction of a second.

Tifa was the last to move on. She had waited for Cloud to take his own first step. Cloud was his usual hesitant self, though - waiting until most of their party had rounded the first bend in their winding path. They had only managed a couple of steps before a flash of white light struck Cloud's eyes.

_Still here…_

Cloud stopped in his tracks; his eyes wide and glassy from recognition. Experience had taught Tifa to fear such a look being present in those blue eyes. She turned to him and steeled herself for any threat. "What happened?"

Cloud lowered his head in contemplation taking his time in answering her. "I feel it…"

Tifa waited for him to continue but soon came to realize the answer may need encouragement. "What..." Cloud still did not respond to her and her anxiety deepened to mild terror as a familiar sense of helplessness flooded her mind.

The light returned to Cloud's eyes and a cold wind blew across all his skin as if it all were bare. The light did eventually fade but the wind only grew to a howl goose-pimpling his skin and racking his body. Cloud shook his head defiantly in an attempt to clear it. "He is still," he brought his hand to his head to signal his distress and in poor endeavor to smooth the pain. "... here."

The torment was so great that it brought Cloud to his knees which soon buckled as well. He writhed on his stomach clutching his head as he felt his psyche fall to pieces, yet again. The familiar agony brought on a renewed sense of rage. His teeth grinding and spittle escaping his lips, Cloud mustered to try to explain the immediate danger to Tifa. "Still…" A light returned amassing a new wave of agony through his system.

"Cloud!?" Tifa screamed beginning her movement to the body that was a mass of tremors before her.

_Haha haha! Ah haha haha!_

Cloud's rage peaked. "He's…" anger began to overcome pain, "laughing…"

Cloud felt the world fall away from him as the light overcame him once more.

"Cloud!"

Cloud's mind was a void of blackness parting for his persona as he barreled through its depths at seeming break-neck speed; all the while building upon that speed. Tendrils of memory wisped past him, all cherished and destroyed by the one man that now called to him. Those memories were not consumed, however; no, they were guiding. The hum of Zack's laughter, the smell of his mother's perfume, the creaking wood of the Nibelheim water tower… the smell of flowers: it all guided him to the depths his enemy called home. Through the tunnels of his stone ego, past the waters of forgotten dreams, and into the empty space of hellish nothing that Cloud's own thoughts would normally dare not tread.

That was where he stood. Green eyes laughing defiantly at him, while long silver hair wisped in emotional winds. Sephiroth.

Cloud's own eyes narrowed in determination, and he materialized a weapon in his right hand. The Buster Sword. The sword gifted to him by the friend that had given him so much strength. The blade he was contracted by Barret to use in his quest to save the Planet. The tool he had promised to protect her with. Perfect.

His two feet landed upon the imagined ground with quaking impact, yet both men were steady in their stance. Glares of hate passed from the sapphire eyes of the spiky blonde to the catlike green eyes of his opponent.

_You were my idol._

Cloud leaned forward into his front sword stance.

_And, you destroyed it all._

Sephiroth pulled his feet close together and raised his masamune to his shoulders in a striking stance.

_My mom._

Both of their sword grips tightened in anticipation.

_The life of my love._

The air deadened to silence.

_The life of my friend._

Wrath started to brim forth as light.

_Zack_.

Both men rose to move in for the strike.

_Nibelheim._

It was Sephiroth's blade that connected. The disfiguring strike felt as if it had cut through muscle and bone alike to split Cloud diagonally from shoulder to hip, but this was Cloud's mind - his subconscious. Sephiroth bore no true power to strike him down.

Cloud's emotions took control as he brought the buster sword down once, twice, five, ten, and fourteen times. All before leaping into the air for the final blow.

A pure light enveloped Cloud's blade as he came crashing down upon Sephiroth. As Cloud pulled the blade away, Sephiroth could no longer maintain his own footing as he clutched at his chest, and stumbled to his knees - his piercing eyes never leaving his enemy. It is only when blood seeped across his face that his expression fell to horror. Once again, this unworthy soul had defeated him. As his body fell away into the abyss of Cloud's mind, these last vestiges of Sephiroth remembered this same feeling when his wounded body had been flung into the lifestream, to his first death, at the hands of a sixteen year old grunt. His form engulfed in a blinding light and erupted in a shower of red and white embers.

A sense of peace overwhelmed Cloud, and he smiled the sort of slight smile that only came with being absolutely content. He felt his mind grow darker, yet felt no distress. His attention is only pulled away from the emptiness to acknowledge a warmth coming from the ground below his feet. Green tendrils and listless sparks of energy snake their way up his body.

A presence of awe filled the void, and Cloud, filling with wonderment, reached out to touch the energy. It felt familiar. His mind falls back to when he was in the lifestream with Tifa. That was it, yes. It was him. This sensation was what he had locked up within himself. It was this discovery that seemed to have alerted his attention to something new. A single pink tendril now danced with the green about him. It was different in more ways than color from the green energy. The green energy felt to be his own as it flowed about and through him freely, whereas the pink energy never touched him and flowed more quickly, almost purposefully. There was familiarity with it as well, but Cloud's senses were having a much more difficult time discerning it.

Beautifully, the energies continued to climb and dance together - never touching. At least, not until they reached the pinnacle of that dance. At the climax, the two energies melded together in a single ball and compact into a bright explosion of light to only wafts of energy sleepily floating downward about him. His mind awestruck by the beauty and wonder of what he saw, it took him a moment to collect his thoughts to process what the true nature of it was.

_… Lifestream?_

As his mind became more enlightened the wafts of green light compressed into tiny orbs. He realized that he had not awoken into the material world yet. He took note of the gash above his brow as well as his complete lack of any sort of physical pain. The state of his being settled in with surprising calm. That green energy wasn't simply what was locked inside him. It was him; the lifestream that allowed him to walk the Planet's living.

He felt no sadness though. In fact, as the light above him began to flood the void, he took note of the green orbs that made up the last remnants of his life begin to bounce almost happily. He looked up to the bright green-white glow as it filled the air with a shining column that washed out everything but himself and the loving face he was looking into. Cloud swore he knew it, but naming it felt trivial at that moment. All he knew was that he wanted to touch that hand that was reaching for his.

_I'm glad you are happy, but you deserve more. You should, at least, be allowed to see the results for all you've worked for. Yeah, I think that's the least everyone can do for you._

Those words cued the fading away of the soothing light into a harsh chaotic rumble alerting Cloud to his immediate physical distress. The bare slender hand of the being within the light was replaced with the gloved hand of Tifa, whom leaned out perilously from the cliff ledge reaching for him.

It took a moment for him to register his present state of being and surroundings. He could have sworn that he was dead and not even the splitting of the ground beneath his feet forced his survival instinct to overtake his desire to figure out how he had returned to the waking world.

It was only when his delay threatened Tifa's life that his body found the will to act. Boulders and mass debris crumbled from the walls of the crater, destroying the platform that Tifa stood upon. She was falling. Cloud's body moved without thought finding collapsing fragments of ground to step from in his run. When there was only green Mako ocean beneath, he leapt; catching Tifa by the waist in the fall while simultaneously grabbing onto the ledge of a crag to halt their descent. The crater's rumblings seemed to stop, for now, as the two dangled by one of his arms.

In hanging there, his mind calmed and he was finally able to connect his thoughts. He began to slowly pull them both up. He felt it pertinent to explain to Tifa, "... I think I'm beginning to understand."

Tifa turned her soft, red eyes up to him. "What?" Tifa could not hide the worry in her voice after seeing Cloud fall from the cliff and hit his head as he had. She had sworn, at the distance, she had seen a copious amount of blood pour from a small wound above his brow, though looking at him now, she couldn't see it any more. She held him tighter, anxious for him to continue.

"An answer from the Planet…" Though he did not smile, Cloud's voice was speaking at a slightly higher octave, "the Promised Land…" He was choosing his words very carefully. "I think I can meet her," he paused losing heart in explaining what the Promised Land actually was, "... there."

Tifa was smiling at him up until his pause. She knew he was hiding something from her, but trusted he'd eventually find his words. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to face away from him. "Yeah, let's go meet her," she encouraged.

Cloud hoisted her up to safety first. Once she had a proper grasp, she was more than strong enough to pull the lower half of her body to the solid ground.

As he climbed up himself, Cloud could not help looking down at the pool of Mako noting that it was slowly shifting in new colors. He felt weak and knew his fate was only a matter of time. It was the fate of the Planet that occupied his thoughts now. He pulled himself up and knelt. He knew Holy was starting to move, and prayed that by sacrificing the part of his mind that Sephiroth had consumed he was not spared to only see his effort wasted. Death did not scare him, but the thought of no afterlife did.

He noticed Tifa studying his face intently. She was trying to read his mind, again. It was clear that his grasp of the Promised Land and her's were different. Natural. Everyone probably had a different idea.

_You wonder until you feel it and you just know, this is the Promised Land._

It only made sense that everyone had a different idea.

Everyone?

Cloud creased his brow and looked to Tifa, "Hey, where is everyone?" The two turned to look behind them and saw Cait Sith, Barret, Cid, and Red XIII waving at them from the wall they reclined against.

"Heeeey!" Barret shouted in an almost teasing manner.

Tifa waved happily at the group. They both assumed Yuffie and Vincent had gone on ahead. "I'm glad you're all safe!" she called to them.

On the other end of the crater, Barret turned his head to address Cid. "They all seem to be safe, too." His dark eyes scanned over their treacherous surroundings before he came to simply look at his feet. "But… now what're we going to do?" He raised his eyes a little to peer into the eerie glow of the Mako pool below feeling chills run up his spine.

Red XIII rose to his feet and swayed his head to check the eyes of all present as he spoke. "Holy should be moving soon, and that means this place will…" With the death of his grandfather still fresh in his mind, he lost the will to complete his statement. So tired of all the battle and loneliness was he that new grim thoughts still held too much sway on his mind.

Cid had also risen to his feet and looked up to the long climb that still remained to them. "Oh, Lady Luck don't fail me now…" As if he words had triggered a switch, the crater began to rumble again, and down came the Highwind crashing through the remaining loose debris. The party members took what cover they could from the dislodged boulders only to find that when they opened their eyes there was a scantily-clad, painted, redhead smiling vacuously at them and winking.

"Oh god! That was the worst ride yet!" Yuffie sickly screamed hanging from the bridge railing. Vincent was already stoically helping her up. Yuffie saw Cid's horrified face in witnessing his ship becoming wedged in the crater. "I swear, we didn't do anything!" she yelled.

They saved the queries, all for one: could they still get out with the ship. Cid didn't even deem his companions' worry worth addressing. He simply started barking orders to his crew as they manned their stations like that of the most stalwart professionals. The small crew of four did not work as though their lives were on the line, but simply as if they were part of the ship. The discipline never failed to amaze the adventurers - not even the increasing tremors stumbled their execution.

It was a good thing too, as once they were dislodged and flying, they found themselves being chased by the bluish-white Mako as it geysered upward to the entrance of the crater. The force adding propulsion to the airship's thrusters and throwing it out into a tailspin.

Cid had not been caught by this without some anticipation. He grasped barely onto a pipe by where he had been standing. "Shit!" he cursed as he reached for a lever marked as 'Emergency'.

With a roar, the Highwind dismantled and dropped away many of its stabilizers and long term propulsion systems in favor of a short term Mako combustion engine that would only fly them for, maybe, a couple of hours. It was not the preferred means of conveyance, but a jarring, short-term ride with a safe landing was always better than the alternative.

With the weight lost, and the torque modified, the ship rolled out of the explosion and screamed forth into the horizon.

The ride was never smooth, and Cloud felt his old motion sickness stir in his gut. He dealt with it well, though, by staring away from the window at his own feet. Besides, he didn't have to look out the window. As they approached Midgar, they all felt the blistering heat of Meteor as it slowly descended upon the metropolis. The stench of melting steel and burning prairie grass mixed unpleasantly into a miasma that enticed all that dared to look upon it with a sickly red smog. The smoke caught in tornadoes that ripped and drilled their way through the steel plate offering no quarter to even the desolate slums beneath. Much of ShrinRa Tower shattered as easily as its glass windows and the pieces tore through all that crossed its path.

The ship circled the destruction, and all its occupants prayed their own silent prayer.

Hope did come. At first, it was a small spark on the horizon, and it raced towards Meteor crashing between what was left of ShinRa Tower and the ominous red sphere. The clashing of red and blue could be seen as far as Cosmo Canyon. Still, the destruction did not slow. Red and blue flame licked and crashed as Holy took on a pink light around its edges while Meteor forced its way though. The struggle forced Holy to start taking on a red glow as Meteor slowly overcame it from the center. The air itself seemed to burn, and the last of ShinRa Tower's framework fell to Meteor.

All of the party watched in horror from the bridge of the Highwind. Barret clutched the rails with fury. "Wait a damn minute!" He turned his head to address the others. "What's going to happen to Midgar?"

No one offered him an answer. It was far too clear.

The large black man slammed his palm against the railing. "We can't let that happen!"

Cloud just continued to stare at the red glow over his boots. What could they really do? Was this destruction really what he was granted to see? Had his epiphany just been the stuff of a contusional dream?

Cait Sith gestured his limbs in desperate need to calm and reassure, but doubt was overcoming the machine as the voice of Reeve overtook him. "I had everyone take refuge in the slums," he lowered and shook his head defeated - he wiped away a tear from his eye and sniffle from his nose, "but the way things are now…"

Red XIII stepped forward, his head lower and his fur reflected the light ominously. His good eye sparked with a determination that had fled the eyes of his allies as he became the first to set his grief aside. "It's too late for Holy. Meteor is approaching the Planet. Holy is having the opposite effect," a low growl rumbled from his throat, " Forget Midgar, we've gotta worry about the Planet."

The others did not all share his fierceness as they just continued to listlessly watch the destruction. Cid seemed to work at his control panel trying to determine how much longer he could keep them airborne as Barret compared a map and the scene outside.

Cloud despaired as he continued to only watch the destruction via the light shining past his own shadow. Why would the Planet want him to see this? Was there some vestige of Sephiroth and JENOVA he missed?

The curious shock in Tifa's voice was the only thing that brought him out of his thoughts. "What's that?"

She was looking out into the mountains of the eastern continent. It was subtle but they all caught the tiny pinpricks of light slowly flowing forth. Two lights snaked forth; then three, more, and more - until the distance became washed with the spiral of etheric green tendrils.

The sight was eerily beautiful.

Barret's voice was hushed but still audible over the roar of the engine. "What the hell IS that…?"

Cloud had finally turned to witness the world's fate. It was time to see what it was the Planet wanted him to see. What was to be the fate of the world?

"... Lifestream."

They all knew she was involved with this somehow. Everyone who had known her felt her presence - even the little girl with the bob-cut hair in Kalm. It was coming. She was coming.

Though it seemed slow, the lifestream flooded forth as a tidal wave from all directions and seeped beneath the mass of red and blue light. The resulting flash blinded the eyes of everyone. Yuffie. Vincent. Barret. Red XIII. Cait Sith. Cid. Marlene. Tifa. Cloud. All eyes to the world squeezed shut.

A gentle laughter echoed. "You missed it."

"Hm?"

A calm green light shined from no source in a world of black. There she stood before him raising her head to look at him with her gentle, green eyes and a kind smile she always wore. The last smile everyone thought they'd had frozen in their hearts.

"Aeris…"

She took one of his gloved hands with both of her own. "Everyone… we… I wanted to thank you by letting you see that all your work had paid off," she snickered at him, "and you went and closed your eyes."

Cloud let out a light laugh he had only made a handful of times in his life. Usually he only laughed inwardly, only a few souls had forced it out loud: Zack had inspired it a few times, his mother in his youth, and twice by her.

"It was too bright," he mocked quietly.

"Was it? Too bad."

Cloud smiled. It was over. He had done his best. Now it had paid off.

He slowly dissolved into small green embers into the dark space leaving but a small candlelight sized azure light within the palm of Aeris's hand. She closed her hand around it loosely and held it close to her heart.

_To die only truly comes when you are forever forgotten. I will, we all will forever keep you in our hearts. Thus, no matter what new life you come to be. No matter what new persona you come to cherish, the you who sacrificed everything to be the hero and guardian you set out to become will live immortally. The small, fragile, wonderful hero of our Planet. Rest well, be happy in your personal Promised Land, and know that we will always love and remember you._

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>At least, that's the ending I long believed in until Square realised they could get more money out of me with the Compilation. Still prefer mine... or really, anyone else's. I miss the old FFVII ending debates. So many intelligent debates, just gone. Oh well, I still hope you enjoyed.


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